Darkened Path
by VolcanicPizza
Summary: All the Twolegs have died, leaving the kittypets who rely on them for food helpless. Ripple is one of these kittypets. But unlike the others, he has a plan for survival... (One-shot)


**A/N: This is a somewhat-Warriors based fic I wrote about a year back, so don't criticize, my writing skills weren't as good. Enjoy!**

As soon as the Twolegs left the house, Ripple jumped up on the windowsill and watched his owners get into their blue monster's stomach through the mouths on either side of its body. Moments later, the monster awoke. Its glowing eyes flickered on and it began to turn its circular feet and move onto the Thunderpath.

Ripple was used to being pampered. His owners would fuss over him continually and give him tasty tidbits until the female had gotten sick. Then she retired to her bed as her skin turned colors and the male would spend most of the time on the forbidden upper floor, only coming down to give Ripple his food with an occasional "good cat" in his general direction.

Now it was raining cats and dogs, reflecting Ripple's gloomy demeanor to the world in general. The male had begun turning colors a day before. Yesterday the Twolegs had tried to walk out to their monster, but they'd fallen down in the kitchen. They had been feeling better today, but the female had begun turning light orange and the male had said something in their strange, yowled language that Ripple had come to understand about a "second stage of the virus."

Now they were leaving Ripple behind to fend for himself. He yowled obstinately and scraped his claws down the dripping glass until the purring monster was out of sight. When he was sure the Twolegs wouldn't be able to see him, he stalked into the Chair-room and scraped long, dark scratches down every chair leg. Then he ripped the forbidden chair's fancy sides off and abruptly released the contents of his bladder onto it. In a surly mood, Ripple stalked to his basket and flopped into it.

* * *

The next day, the first thing Ripple noted was that the Twolegs weren't back. The next thing Ripple thought was, It's quiet. Too quiet.

He clawed his way up onto the windowsill and looked around. All the monsters were either hidden in the monster-cages or gone.

And so were all the Twolegs.

Ripple yowled and clawed at the window, scraping even deeper marks into the window over his other ones. But when he had finished, the nests were still silent.

Ripple abruptly jumped down from the window when suddenly he heard an answering yowl from next door. With a glad meow he leaped back up onto the window to see his kithood friend Cinder. Cinder had lived in the nest next to Ripple for as long as he could remember and was named for his dark gray pelt. Ripple hurled himself at the window and screeched, copying Cinder's hysterical movements.

As the sun reached its highest point, Cinder and Ripple slumped on their windowsills, panting. Their efforts had done nothing, and now they were both hungry and worn out. Flicking his tail, Ripple jumped down and prowled towards the kitchen. He would have to attempt to get out later.

In the kitchen, his cat bowl was about half-full with the slop the Twolegs had fed him for about a month- something about Ripple being underweight- and with a growl he kicked the bowl into the back wall. I'm hungry, and that slop's not going to cut it! He marched over to the drawer and battered at it for about ten minutes before it opened. Not even bothering to consider his dignity, Ripple dragged out a bag of the old food and tore it open. It spilled onto the floor, and he gladly ate. Those Twolegs, if they came home now, would go crazy on him.

As Ripple finished his meal, he accidentally stepped on the black thing that controlled the Twoleg's glowing box. They would often make the box display moving images of frenetically moving Erect-walkers while rhythmic sounds played. Now the glowing box flickered to life, but instead of playing the images of jumping Twolegs, it displayed the upper half of an Twoleg male wearing a black pelt. A blue-striped tail dangled from around his neck as he began to speak. Ripple jumped back with a yowl in shock, then realized that it wasn't real. It was just a projection from the box, like the ones the Twolegs played. Ripple twitched his tail as he prepared to leap. The man was talking…

"Ever since this form of Ebola mutated around our vaccines, I, too, was hoping for a miracle, but now, with half of the human population deceased and the rest in hospitals, I do believe that this is the end of the human race. I, here in the White House, have witnessed the horrific death of everyone around me. To those humans around watching this who still live, I ask of you this: Go forth and survive, and eventually-"

Ripple leaped onto the glowing box, and it fell to the floor. The front shattered and the man's face died out. Sparking things poured from a hole in the front. Ripple snorted at it, then stalked away, leaving the flickering wreckage on the floor.

* * *

Ripple woke to smell smoke. Just part of a dream, he thought, but then sprang up with a yowl as smoke wafted overhead. He darted into the kitchen to see the glowing box was on fire! Smoke poured from it. Ripple jumped up on the countertop, but the smoke made him dizzy and he fell down again. As he did, he tumbled past the sink and had a hazy recollection of one of the Twolegs spraying water on a fire they'd made in the backyard. They'd held strange white fluffy things on sticks over it until they were brown and then stuck them in between square things and ate them, just another part of Twoleg lifestyle that did nothing but confuse Ripple. Ripple launched himself up onto the sink and batted at the things on either side of it until a clear jet of water lanced out. Ripple grasped the faucet in his teeth and directed it onto the fire, but all it did was feed the flames.

The fire licked up the drawers and consumed the floor and made the chairs into a roaring inferno, and Ripple leaped over the burning countertop and balanced himself precariously on a cabinet, but was forced to leap to higher ground as flames destroyed the cabinet's supporting pieces and it fell into the roaring fire.

With a screech opposite, the windowsill gave way and fell onto a red cylinder, which began spewing a vile-smelling smoke onto the floor, then the flames. Ripple jumped onto the cold black rectangle the Twolegs had stored food in, then into the doorway and he skidded into the chair-room. He watched in dismay as the cabinet that held his food crashed to the ground and burned, then fled.

Back in the kitchen, the red cylinder shot its smoke at the flames. As Ripple watched, to his astonishment, the smoke began to dampen the flames. They licked lower and less and lower and less until at last the flames had died.

The smoke kept spraying for five long minutes until the cylinder rolled on its side and expired.

* * *

After an hour, Ripple regained the courage to walk back into the kitchen. The smoke now rested on the ground as an ashy powder, and the glowing box just smoked.

But Ripple's food supply was burned, and his wellbeing was precariously perched on the assumption that he'd be able to find more food. With a sudden surge of anger, Ripple hurled himself at the cracked window, and with a long, echoing CRASH! it gave way.

Ripple fell down into the garden where his Twolegs grew flowers and twisted to land on his paws. Glass fell and Ripple darted away from the glass and towards the fence. He leaped onto it and darted over to Cinder's yard. Ripple jumped down into Cinder's yard and ran towards one of the windows. He batted at the catch until it whisked open, and Ripple jumped into Cinder's bed right on top of Cinder. Cinder yowled and twisted away from Ripple. "What on earth do you think you are doing?"

Ripple was about to respond when he suddenly smelled something from Cinder's kitchen. He walked towards it and there it was, a raw chicken Cinder's Erect-walkers hadn't eaten. Cinder darted towards it and tore off a wing viciously. He prodded it towards Ripple and meowed, indicating he could have some. Ripple ripped a piece of meat off and settled down to gnaw on it. The cats ate in relative quiet until Cinder looked up at Ripple and meowed, "There's two problems with this life, though."

Ripple twitched his tail. "Oh, really? I couldn't have guessed."

"Ha, ha, ha. The first problem is, I can't open the Twoleg's cold food-storage box."

"Show me."

Cinder led Ripple to the box. There were multiple signs that Cinder had pushed, clawed, and bit the box to no end attempting to get it open.

"See?" Cinder flicked his claws in and out. "I ripped one of my claws out trying to open that thing."

Ripple looked over the box. "If we work together, we can open it." He thrust himself against it, and Cinder copied him. They thrust their shoulders into the door over and over until at last, with a creak it slowly opened.

"Yes!" Cinder jumped towards it and climbed up the door until he came towards a carton. He shook it until it fell to the ground and began leaking milk out of the side. Cinder twisted gracefully and landed next to Ripple. "Bet you haven't had any of this in ages."

Ripple's eyes sparkled; he bent and began to lap at the milk. Cinder, pleased with himself, tilted his head and began slurping in an odd way. "See, if you tilt your head like this it trickles over your tongue and you taste it longer."

Ripple tried it, and surprisingly, it worked. They both drank until their thirst was quenched. Ripple thought their feast was done, until he looked up to see a slim package peering down at them.

"Cinder, look—bacon!" Ripple climbed the side of the box and jumped over onto the shelf. By sticking his hindquarters through a screen of broccoli, he was just able to hook his claws through the bacon and toss it down to Cinder.

"That was great!" Cinder tore the package open with his teeth and pulled out a long strip of bacon. He sliced it in half with his teeth and batted it to Ripple as he dove down. The two cats feasted on bacon until they couldn't eat anymore and it squirted out of the sides of their mouths when they tried to chew it.

 _And my Twolegs said I was underweight!_ Ripple thought as he and Cinder laid on their backs and looked over their bulging stomachs. Ripple began washing a tongue through his glossy black fur as he looked over at Cinder. "So what's the other problem?"

"The packs of-"

Suddenly there was a loud, vicious barking and a canine body slammed into the glass door.

"DOGS!" finished Cinder, and he and Ripple scrambled back with echoing yowls. A mammoth German shepherd hurled itself into the sliding glass door, and a tiny fracture appeared on its surface. Ripple scuttled backwards. "Eventually the dogs are going to get smart and slide the door back. We need to get lost!" Cinder and Ripple darted away from the dog pack as they thudded into the glass door. Ripple skidded to a stop in front of the stairs. "Up there!"

"My Twolegs said I couldn't—"

"Your Twolegs would have wanted you to stay alive!" Ripple ran up the stairs and Cinder followed him. They heard the dogs yipping in excitement as one of them forced the door back, and the next thing the terrified cats knew, the dogs were pouring in with the German shepherd at their head. They charged up the stairs as the dogs pounded through Cinder's Twoleg's chair-room. Cinder and Ripple scrambled over the bed as the dog pack thundered up the stairs.

"Okay, where can we go?" Cinder yowled as he looked around. "Process of elimination. Not the hall, not the stairs, not the bathroom—"

"The only reason you can use process of elimination is because you can do it in your litter box!" Ripple screeched. "Figure something out!"

"Wait a second…" Cinder stopped by the window. "Go out, now!"

"Are you insane? We can't fly!"

"No, but we can climb down the oak outside, and the dogs can't!" Cinder scrambled out the window, and Ripple followed him.

The dogs were close behind. The German shepherd sailed out the window and for three terrifying seconds Ripple thought dogs had learned how to fly—

-and the dog fell to the ground below with a sickening crunch.

"Ew!"

"His legs are twisted funny!"

The dog pack stopped and looked at their leader, likely dead. They ran out of Cinder's house and towards the body, then grasped it in their teeth and dragged it away.

 _Eventually, they'll get a new leader and they'll be back. We need an idea._ thought Ripple. He and Cinder walked back inside to the upper floor and settled into sleep on the Twoleg's bed. Apparently Cinder had forgotten that he wasn't supposed to be up here.

* * *

That night, Ripple dreamt he was in one of the things the Twolegs had gotten their food from... a mall, was it called? There was enough food there to last hundreds of cats a lifetime, and it had echoed to the sound of yowling cats.

Ripple suddenly woke up. He knew how the cats of this Twolegplace would survive...

* * *

The next day, Ripple and Cinder walked to the nest across the Thunderpath where two cats, Tiger and Star, lived. Tiger and Star were brother and sister and had lived there even longer than Ripple and Cinder, almost seven years. Ripple jumped onto a windowsill and batted at the catch until it gave way. He jumped in and Cinder followed.

Inside, it was obvious that the dog pack had been through. Chairs were tipped over, flowers were scattered on the floor, and there was evidence that the dogs had taken all of the food left in the house.

"Hello?" Ripple walked into the kitchen, where mud streaked the floor. Tiger and Star were crammed under a chair, swatting at a brutish dog who had trapped them there.

"Take it to him." Ripple and Cinder leaped simultaneously, barely clearing the dog's tail and landing on its back. Ripple savaged its ears, while Cinder hung on its tail and made an eerie keening sound. In minutes, the dog was out the door yelping while red liquid traced its trail. Ripple and Cinder walked calmly over to Tiger and Star. "Were you hurt?"

"No. The dog was more bark than bite."

"Look, we had an idea that we could go to the places where the Erect-walkers would get our food from. Do you want to come with?"

"I'll go." Tiger drew a paw protectively over his sister's back.

"No." Star shook herself free with sudden determination and slid her claws out. "I'm coming too."

"Okay, but first we need to gather more cats. I suggest we split up and meet back here at sunhigh. Tell them to meet at Cinder's house at nightfall."

"I will do that." Tiger bowed his head and walked out of the kitchen, Star behind him. Ripple and Cinder trotted off in the other direction.

As they left, Ripple turned his head to look up at the sky. The thought that maybe he could save many cats from starvation... it filled him with determination.

* * *

As the sun rose to its pinnacle, Ripple and Cinder rendezvoused with Tiger and Star. They had found the same story all over: cats savaged by dogs and running out of food. The same message they had relayed: to come as night fell.

Cats that hadn't responded, or watched from the shadows, Tiger was fairly confident they would come, and they just wanted to prove that they couldn't be ordered around. Star was slipping her claws in and out as Ripple voiced his concerns: He had gone to Barley south by the farm, but Barley had refused.

"We could use him." Cinder twitched his tail impatiently. "He's a great hunter and he could catch us more mice than we could eat. He'd be one of the greatest contributions later when we exhaust the resources the Twolegs left behind. Of course, we'll have to hunt too…"

"But by then, we'll be fat and old and we'll make the young cats get us mice." Ripple began meowing in laughter, and eventually Cinder, Tiger, and Star joined him.

* * *

That night, Ripple, Cinder, Tiger, and Star stood atop the table in Cinder's kitchen. Cats had begun trickling in about ten minutes ago. To Ripple's surprise, Barley had come in, and he stood restlessly. No cat knew what had happened to make him so surly, except Tiger. He said that a black cat had lived with Barley, but he'd gone on a journey some time ago and died. Now Barley isolated himself from everyone.

So why did he come?

Ripple wasn't going to look at gift mouse's stomach, though. As more and more cats prowled in, Cinder nudged Ripple. "Will what the Twolegs left behind support this many? There must be at least fifty here!"

"In my dream, I saw hundreds living off what they left behind. We can support fifty cats."

As the moon rose, the cats finished walking in, and began aimlessly meowing together. Ripple stepped to the front of the table and gave a yowl that quieted the cats and soon, even the youngest kitten was looking up at him.

"I called this meeting to suggest a union of cats. I have seen a place where we can live until the end of time in relative peace and comfort, a future of light for our kittens and for the generations to come. We can live off of what the Twolegs left behind until there are enough mice for us to eat."

The cats stared up at Ripple as he wove his seemingly ludicrous plan for them. By the time they finished, Barley stepped forwards. "I will go."

And then more and more cats stepped forwards until every cat stood beneath the table looking at Ripple with expectation.

Ripple suppressed a yowl of delight and looked over the assembled cats. "Tonight, we'll sleep jointly in my and Cinder's nests. We'll set up a guard unit to keep watch that will switch out at regular intervals."

The cats found accommodations for themselves. Ripple selected Star, Barley, and Cinder to head the first watch and was asleep before his head hit the floor.

* * *

The next morning the cats were up at the crack of dawn. Ripple arranged the group so that the kits, mothers, and old cats would be on the inside and the seasoned fighters would be on the outside for protection. Ripple walked at the head, Barley and Star on his left flank, Tiger and Cinder on his right. Ripple planned to place them as deputies when they got to their new home.

The cats walked tirelessly, until all of a sudden there it was, looming to the sky, its façade covered in odd Twoleg squiggles: their new home.

Ripple kept them in formation as they walked into the room. Female Twolegs struck weird poses while attired in weird pelts on large pictures arrayed up the walls. Headless Twoleg likenesses were stuck haphazardly inside glass cases. One was shattered, with its white Twoleg model toppled on the ground, the body grotesquely distorted by broken glass which gouged it. Muddy pawprints traced the once pristine floor the stores used to own. The cats stared silently at these remnants of the world they used to know. In a few years, Ripple thought, will all of these have fallen down? Maybe all traces of Twolegs will disappear in a hundred, two hundred years, will it all be gone? Everything I took for granted about life?

Ripple led the cats through the silent halls, gazing at the remains of the Twolegs' vanished glory.

"It's odd, isn't it?" meowed Cinder. "I thought the Twoleg's reign would last forever, but they're just as vulnerable as us, after all."

"Over here. There's meat." Tiger gestured with his tail towards a nest fronted by shattered glass.

"There's too much glass. Kits could get injured." Cinder shoved a piece of glass with a clawtip and shook his head. "It's too risky, Tiger."

"There's a clear path over here." Barley noted, pointing along the side of the wall. "We can slide along there if we go single file. It would be risky, but if there's so much meat in there it will be worth it in the long run."

Ripple led the way into the room. Cautiously he poked his nose into a back room-

—and a dog looked up from its meal, growled, and then barked. Dogs charged in from all directions.

"It's a trap!" Cinder lashed his tail.

"Prepare for battle!" Ripple bared his teeth and lunged.

The next few minutes were a whirlwind to Ripple. He was hanging on a dog's tail savaging it, he was with Cinder clawing a dog over the nose, he was with Barley drawing three kits into a corner away from danger, he was with Tiger lashing out and raking the stomach of one dog…

Until red clouded Ripple's vision and he was raging, snarling, lashing, raking, claws impacting in dog after dog, until he was—

"Hold down, Ripple. They're leaving." Cinder drew his tail across his friend's shoulder as the last of the dogs raced from the room barking.

Ripple shook himself. "Anybody injured?"

"Only some minor injuries. Tiger ripped a claw out, Barley got his paw cut up, and I have a sore tail, but nobody's wounded much."

"Good." Ripple batted his friend over the ear playfully. "I don't want anybody to die."

In the corner, the kits came out, looked around, and looked at Ripple. "Are the dogs gone?"

"Yes." Ripple twitched his ears in assent. The kits looked at each other and began playfighting. "I'll be Ripple, and you be a dog!"

"No! I want to be Ripple!"

"I want to be a dog!"

"No, I want to be a dog! You be Cinder!"

"But I'm a she-cat, you fool!"

The kittens hissed playfully and began swatting at each other. One of them lurched around in circles and fell down. "Ow! I'm dead. You killed me! I've been gutted! Like a fish!"

Ripple watched the kittens play for a bit longer, then jumped onto a chair. He needed to talk to his cats... _But what should I say? That we could get assaulted any minute by more dogs, or another group of cats could chase us out, or… No, they need something else, something motivational, but what? Oh, well, I can figure out something…_

Ripple raised his head and yowled to summon the cats. Slowly they began to assemble under him.

 _…I'm their leader, after all._


End file.
